WTF has happened to Mumsnet?

[Humblebottomous]

First we had troll posts, then massive influx of posters from the US (frankly I found it annoying negotiating the different reference points) and now all these ridiculous AI threads which seem to consist of long winded posts about non-problems.

I’ve been on and off MN for years but does anyone else feel it really has had it’s day.

What is noticeable is the defensiveness and extreme points of view, it is really tedious, not interesting or read and is as sensitive as hell.

And/Or they are very caring surgeons and nurses and doctors ❤

WTF is it with whole threads that are deleted because they turn out to be made up eg the very dramatic baby in hospital losing birth weight story yesterday? Was that AI?

I am Anglo-American and I would like to reassure those concerned that I have a kettle. It does, however, take about three hours to boil thanks to our shitty 120V electricity.

Mumsnet still has plenty of hilarity and loveliness on it, you just have to look in the right places.

Like the wild west these days

I agree it’s different. When I first lurked, it was full of whitty replies & it was funny & nice.

There are still some lovely & very funny people here but there’s a big group of ‘it’s on you’ or ‘are you going to answer my question’ & various other popular phases that get churned out. Just nasty people looking for an argument really.

There are also a lot of bandwagon posters that follow what others put, especially on Aibu. It’s like a witch hunt half the time.

There are a LOT of very uptight & easily offended.

The funny & nice ones keep me here.

I think you've misunderstood the outlook of a 'Little Englander'.

What's the difference?

Equally, what are the characteristics of someone who is English but not a little Englander as it sounds like anybody referring to themselves as being British with the corresponding cultural references you have a problem with?

It was! Such witty, funny threads that went on for days and I got a lot of supportive good advice as a young mum but that was 20 years ago. Posters can be so judgemental, aggressive and humourless and just downright mean sometimes.

I tend to stick to the lesser frequented corners these days although still get sucked in by the odd AIBU bunfight - you'd think I'd have learned by now!

AI? I don’t understand. Is there an Artificial Intelligence input on Mumsnet? What is it, posts being created or answers being given and you don’t know whether it’s a real person or AI?
Can someone explain?
If there are AI generated posts and replies then I’m coming off Mumsnet. I just want to hear from real people thank you.

Oh god no Americans need their own site. The best thing about MN is its Englishness. Canadians get it a bit, but not Americans. Plus they think they own the joint as soon as they enter the discourse. A bit like the men.

so that’s TWO little englanders that you’re annoying.

perhaps we should start a .Co.uk site??

PS it’s phrases like ‘Little Englander’ that are the problem.

It’s never been open hearted or open minded. It’s just been Britain. You’ve been listening to too much BBC.

It was a more cerebral site in 2005...

Absolutely this. When I joined in 2011 it was so funny. Many nights during feeds I'd be shaking with laughter trying not to disturb DS. Within 5 replies now a thread will get derailed or the OP will have been heavily judged. It's proper hard work.

Yeah people like me blah blah blah.

Did you mean to prove the OP's point?😆

Sometimes groups of them go into the countryside where they are imaginatively murdered by various entities. And a lot of them are animations.

America doesn't exist.

Cogent point 🤔

Erm... yes I am aware of that. However my point was that Americans do not say "mum" at all. Canadians, yes, but Americans no.

I think you misunderstood my entire point.

@throwawayaway1 the big mystery for me is why people think that Britain should be open minded and warm hearted when the rest of the world is anything but.

you are painting Britain in that way is like looking back at ‘the good ol days’ I.E. Before this country went through the biggest seismic shift in its demographic population in its history.

Today there is no unified Britain. Britain is just a backdrop for a gathering of cultures and politically diverse groups that happen to rub along ok for most of the time.

this is the place you are disparaging. The other one cannot exist because there is no single British culture.

Americans have kettles, people. Yes, we drink both hot and iced tea, and it's very normal all over the US (I have lived in all areas of the country), but drinking any kind of tea isn't nearly as popular as drinking coffee. No, we don't put cream or milk or whatever into our tea. We definitely don't say "cuppa" or (apparently?) use tea references in relation to time.

We do not use the word "mum." We also don't say "He was sat down" (Why are you using the passive voice instead of the active voice "He was sitting down" or "He sat down"?). We don't say "I have done in the past" (have done WHAT in the past?? Where is the direct object???). We don't say "I went to hers" or the myriad other grammatical mysteries that I find fascinating as hell. (I'm a grammar teacher, having learned American English grammar at high levels by studying Latin, so it DOES actually fascinate me. No shade.)

Non-idiot Americans understand quite well that this is a primarily British-based site (English-based? UK-based?) and that our references regarding politics, laws, culture, etc. have no basis here, which means giving advice based on US experience is ridiculous. (But there are plenty of idiots out there, American and otherwise, so you'll inevitably get clueless fools.) As such, I don't give advice about anything other than relationship stuff, which I gather is quite similar all over the planet.

Americans can ABSOLUTELY be culture-centric. I loathe quite a bit about the American culture (e.g. reality tv, Britney Spears and pop "artists" of that ilk, fast food), so it's disappointing that so much of the world has spent so much money on it that their companies want to keep dishing it out to their citizens, but, hey, it's their money. I think of America as an annoying teenager (given the relative recency of the culture) who thinks the entire world revolves around them and that they know everything. Do with it what you normally do with those kinds of teenagers.

But, yeah, I think you guys might consider replacing "Americans" with "Jews" or "blacks" or "fat people" and see how legit these comments about Americans still are.

Or indeed ‘little Englanders’ by whom we mean ‘white English people’ who are of course absolutely fair game.

Is the complaint that “little englanders” is an insult rather than a badge of pride and a quasi political self description no different than Tory or Labour?

Sure, people may associate it with racism, xenophobia, and bigotry but are those things wrong? I understood that they were kind of good—foreigners being rather foreign and their ways, from chocolate to law and culture, being obviously horrid..

This! When my kids were little (now approaching adulthood fast) I made real life friends on here and we learned from each other and I felt supported. That’s not a reality here anymore.